


Kiss Me Twice ('Cause it's Gonna be Alright)

by Impossibly_Izzy



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I know it's weird, Just Roll With It, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Relationship Negotiation, You could call this crack but I don't think it's sillier than anything else I write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:41:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22259638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impossibly_Izzy/pseuds/Impossibly_Izzy
Summary: Jake spends most of Amy’s undercover mission in the Texas prison freaking the heck out. For the first time ever, Charles feels a pang of relief when he decides to leave.‘Will you be okay?’ Jake says.‘We’ll look after each other,’ Charles says. ‘And we’ll see you again soon, Jakey. I love you.’
Relationships: Amy Santiago/Charles Boyle, Charles Boyle/Jake Peralta, Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago, Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago/Charles Boyle
Comments: 17
Kudos: 63





	1. Chapter 1

Jake and Amy are clearing up their takeout containers when Charles shows up to bring them brownies, just because.

‘I wanted to bake something and then I thought, I wonder if my two favourite people want some brownies,’ he says.

‘I’m one of your two favourite people?’ Amy says.

‘Of course you are,’ Charles says. ‘Don’t tell my dad. Okay, I’m gonna leave and let you two have some _alone time_.’ He raises his eyebrows suggestively.

‘More like Property Brothers and then sleep,’ Amy says.

‘Ooh, Property Brothers is on?’ Charles says. ‘You guys had better text me your thoughts.’

‘ _Obviously_ ,’ Jake says, and kisses him.

After he leaves, Amy says, ‘He’s ridiculous.’

‘I know,’ Jake says. And then, ‘I’m kind of in love with him.’

‘That’s because you’re ridiculous too.’

‘Yeah,’ he says, and pulls her to him, presses kisses up her neck.

It’s weird, but it’s their normal kind of weird. This isn’t how Amy saw her life panning out, but it _works_. The fact that Jake is also dating Charles doesn’t mean that he has any less love to give to her – in fact it seems to energize him, buoy him up. He tells her about his dates with Charles, about the movies they’ve watched and the food they’ve eaten, and it fills him with an excitement that is both infectious and attractive.

And Charles, who gets jealous when his cousins hang out without him, who is jealous of Stevie Schillens and Doug Judy, who generally exudes vibes of protective possessiveness, is nothing but delighted by Jake’s relationship with Amy. And she has surprised herself with how much she’s started liking him – not just because he makes Jake happy, but because he makes _her_ happy. Every month or so they hang out at the jigsaw puzzle café near her apartment and talk about work and their families and Charles’ latest attempt to reach food blog stardom.

And she’s one of his favourite people, apparently. Also, he makes the best brownies of anyone she knows.

Jake spends most of Amy’s undercover mission in the Texas prison freaking the heck out. For the first time ever, Charles feels a pang of relief when he decides to leave.

‘Will you be okay?’ Jake says.

‘We’ll look after each other,’ Charles says. ‘And we’ll see you again soon, Jakey. I love you.’

‘I love you too,’ Jake says, and kisses him, and leaves.

They end up leaving early as well: the squad needs them back in Brooklyn. They rush to the airport, and then they’re trapped on a plane with nothing to do and no way to help.

‘I love him so much,’ Amy says. ‘Oh my god, I’ve never told him that I love him _so much_. I need to tell him!’

‘Me too,’ Charles says. ‘I mean, I’ve told him, obviously, but _you_ need to tell him!’

He tries to stay calm for her sake, talks her down from one anxiety attack after another, demands more and more ice cream from a bemused flight attendant. At one point she grabs his hand, and he gives hers a gentle squeeze and holds it for the rest of the flight even when it means eating ice cream one-handed.

They get back, they reunite with Jake, they celebrate at Shaw’s. Amy tells Jake she loves him _so much_. Charles tells him the same thing, at least four times. And then Jake’s phone rings, and then, and then.

And then a car shows up, and Jake is whisked away from them.

Life is divided into time working on the Figgis case, and time not working on the Figgis case. It’s the later that’s harder: the evenings spent alone, the sleepless nights, each normal moment made painful by Jake’s absence. Charles feels a prickle of guilt every time he tries to distract himself, but they don’t have a lot of choice. It’s the only way to cope. Their jigsaw puzzle afternoons become fortnightly and then weekly, and there’s something comforting in sitting quietly with Amy as they shuffle the little pieces of cardboard around and try to turn them into a picture of a bridge or a landscape or whatever.

‘There’s a Pre-Raphaelite exhibition on at the Met,’ she says, one day. ‘I know it’s not really your thing, but you could come. If you like.’

‘Sure,’ Charles says.

And it _isn’t_ really his thing, but the paintings are beautiful and he likes listening to Amy talk about them and the stories behind them. She gets so excited, and it’s kind of adorable. They get bagels afterwards, and sit in Central Park for an hour talking about art and college and other things that aren’t Jake. He doesn’t even come up until they’re on the subway home and Amy says, ‘Thank you for today. You’re a really good person to go to galleries with.’

‘In what way?’ Charles says, trying not to beam.

‘You don’t get impatient. _Certain people_ I could mention don’t last more than five minutes before they get bored.’ Charles laughs, because that’s exactly the Jake he knows, and then Amy’s face falls and she says, ‘Oh my god, that’s such a bad thing to say when he’s in witsec. I didn’t mean – obviously I want him back. I’m the worst girlfriend.’

‘No you’re not,’ Charles says, firmly. ‘You’re a fantastic girlfriend. Jake is so lucky to have you.’

‘When he comes back, I’ll let him be as impatient as he wants.’

‘Me too,’ Charles says. ‘Me too. But you’re allowed to enjoy doing things with other people.’

‘Thank you.’ She gives him a sad, tired smile.

He doesn’t know what else to say, doesn’t know how to turn everything he’s feeling into words, but he doesn’t need to. Amy understands. He reaches out and squeezes her hand like he did on the flight back from Texas and it’s enough, the contact is enough.

She calls him one evening after work. ‘Are you busy?’

‘Nope.’

‘Can we do something?’ she says. ‘I just – I can’t stop thinking about Jake, and about the case, and I’m just going round in circles.’

‘I was going to make dinner,’ Charles says. ‘We could – together?’

‘I’m a terrible cook,’ Amy says.

‘I know. I’ll teach you.’

She laughs. ‘Okay. If you promise not to yell at me.’

She comes over, brings a bottle of wine with her, and he teaches her how to properly dice an onion and she laughs and says, ‘Finally my mom can stop being so disappointed in me.’

‘I feel you,’ he says. ‘My mom always wanted me to learn how to crochet. She still sends me yarn sometimes.’

Amy laughs again, and Charles loves that he can make that happen even when things are so rough. And they cook and they talk and they watch a romcom together, and Amy, sleepy and a little wine-drunk, curls against his chest.

‘I like you,’ she mumbles as the credits role. ‘I really like you.’

Charles pets her hair, and it’s just as soft and lovely as he imagined. ‘I really like you too.’

The days drag by.

‘I can’t believe Jake and the Captain have been gone for four months,’ Amy says. They’re sitting on the couch, and the TV is on but they’re not watching it.

Charles nods morosely: it feels like it’s been years. It feels like their attempts to find Figgis have ground to a halt, like this whole thing could just keep dragging on and on forever.

‘What if-’ he says. ‘What if we don’t-’

‘We _will_ ,’ Amy says, like she’s trying to convince herself as much as him. ‘We _have_ to.’

‘I hope he’s okay,’ Charles says. He tries to picture Jake, somewhere else, watching Die Hard and drinking orange soda and waiting for time to pass, hoping they sort everything out and bring him home. Or, more likely, trying to figure out if there’s anything he can do himself. ‘I hope he doesn’t do anything stupid.’

‘At least Holt’s with him,’ Amy says with a sigh. ‘Hopefully he can reign him in.’

‘Holt has never _once_ reigned Jake in.’

Amy cracks a smile. ‘That’s true. Remember that time he insisted you take the helicopter out just because he thought it was cool?’

‘I do,’ Charles says. ‘Remember the first Halloween Heist? When we came back from our job and it was just… chaos.’

‘It hasn’t been chaotic enough recently,’ Amy muses.

Charles raises his eyebrows pointedly. ‘I’m gonna tell Jake you said that.’

‘Do _not_ ,’ Amy says, trying to be stern but not quite managing it. ‘Ill never hear the end of it.’

‘But me and Jake tell each other everything,’ Charles teases.

‘Of course you do,’ Amy says, with a laugh. ‘You guys are cute.’

‘Not as cute as _you guys_.’

Amy pushes her hair behind her ears with both hands. ‘We’re all cute,’ she says, and leans in.

And kisses him.

The first kiss is cautious and brief, but then Charles leans in and kisses her properly. It’s good, it’s lovely, he wants to put his hands in her hair and tell her how beautiful she is, how constantly in awe of her he is.

But he doesn’t. He pulls back, looks at her, sees his own hesitation reflected in her expression.

‘Is this-’ he starts. He doesn’t want to say it, doesn’t want to ruin the moment, but he needs to be sure. ‘Is this just because Jake isn’t here?’

‘No,’ she says, quickly. ‘I would never try to like, replace Jake with you.’

‘I know,’ he says. ‘I’m sorry. I just – are you just lonely – or – what is this, Ames?’

She shakes her head. ‘I don’t know. But I like you.’

‘Me too. Me too. Can I kiss you again?’

‘Yes.’

Charles doesn’t know what this is, he’s never had a relationship like it before, but he goes all in anyway. He buys her flowers, takes her for dinner somewhere that Rosa assures him isn’t too weird.

She takes him to trivia night with Kylie, who immediately takes to Charles.

‘You’re so much better at this than Jake,’ she says.

‘No I’m not,’ Charles says, indignant.

Amy smiles and shakes her head. ‘You’re not gonna get anywhere badmouthing Jake in front of Charles.’

They go back to Amy’s apartment afterwards and kiss some more. Amy’s hands are so soft, and her mouth tastes like lip-gloss, and for the first time Charles is a little jealous of all the times she and Jake have made love. Jealous not of her, but of Jake.

Her hands are on his chest, and she pulls back from the kiss and plays with his tie like she’s thinking about taking it off. And he wants that, he wants that, except -

‘I don’t know if we should…’ She trails off, bites her lip.

Charles sighs. ‘Yeah. I keep trying to imagine what Jake would say and I just don’t know.’

‘Honestly, I think he’d be delighted,’ Amy says. ‘But it still feels weird not being able to ask him.’

It would be so simple if Jake was here. Polyamory is all about communication – but how the hell is that meant to work when one of you is stuck in witness protection somewhere?

‘I don’t want to stop,’ Amy says suddenly, and when Charles meets her gaze he sees utter panic there. He takes her hand, squeezes it. ‘I…’ She hesitates. ‘I need this. You and me. I don’t know how I’d deal without Jake and without you too.’

‘Me neither,’ Charles admits. ‘Jake will understand that.’

‘So what do we do?’

‘Let’s keep going like this,’ Charles says. ‘With the dates, and the holding hands.’

‘But no sex,’ Amy says.

‘No sex,’ Charles agrees.

Amy has done a lot of research on polyamory before, of course – she has a binder for it. But that was back when Jake was the hinge between her and Charles, so her binder needs some serious updating. She reads articles, takes notes, makes lists. It’s good having something to keep her busy.

She doesn’t talk to anyone other than Charles about it. The squad don’t even know about Jake and Charles, which is funny considering how obvious Charles is about everything. But, then again, Charles has always been obsessed with Jake. The person she _really_ wants to talk to about it isn’t available.

The odds that Jake wouldn’t want them to be together like this are slim to none, but Amy worries that he’d feel left-out if they did too much in his absence. She wants to wait for him to come back – Jake deserves that.

So they don’t have sex. They hang out, and Charles cooks for her, and they work on the Figgis case, and they deal with Captain Stently, and they try their best to comfort each other when they’re freaking out or feeling hopeless about the whole thing. And they hold hands, and they increasingly find themselves cuddling on the couch, and they kiss. They’re taking it slow in a way she and Jake never managed, and a way Charles has never managed with anyone.

One night they almost fall asleep in front of Bridget Jones’s Diary, and Charles yawns as he gets to his feet.

‘You should stay over,’ Amy says. ‘It’s late.’

He sleeps beside her under her floral quilt, and in the morning she walks into the kitchen and finds him making French toast and wearing one of Jake’s t-shirts, and the whole thing is so sweet that Amy wants to cry.

Another night, not long after that, they’re cuddling and talking about Jake and how much they miss him, and it turns into a conversation about what they want to do with him once he’s back, which veers into sexual territory. It becomes increasingly steamy, and Amy shifts away from Charles because being pressed against him feels too risky.

‘I love how worked up he gets,’ Charles says, his voice low.

‘Mm,’ Amy says. ‘So desperate. You ever – with handcuffs?’

‘Yeah,’ Charles says. ‘And those silk things. He looks so pretty like that.’

‘Your dirty talk isn’t as gross as I expected,’ Amy says, trying to distract herself from the things this conversation is doing to her body.

Charles smirks. ‘I know.’

She leans over and kisses the smirk off his face – she can’t help herself. And she wants Jake, wants all the things they’ve been describing, but she wants Charles too. She keeps the distance between their bodies, fights the urge to push him onto his back and straddle his hips, pointedly does not let her hands wander, does not look down at his body.

‘I want…’ Charles says, a hand in her hair.

‘Me too,’ Amy says. ‘Me too.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been trying to think of a way to make this work for *ages*, and then I remembered the scene in Ava where Amy says she's attracted to Charles and I couldn't get it out of my head. I hope I convinced some of you to stick around for part two XD


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'My dreams are coming true: you and me, getting my lady off together!'

‘It’s so freaking good to be back,’ Jake says. ‘I can’t wait to go tell the city how much I’ve missed it. And get pizza! And bagels! I’m never leaving again.’

They got back to New York early in the morning, just in time for Amy and Charles and the rest of the squad to drag themselves into work. Amy has been texting Jake all day. From _work_. But maybe sometimes rules are worth breaking.

And now they’re sitting on Jake’s bed, his injured leg propped up on a stack of cushions. All three of them.

‘So are you guys gonna tell me what’s going on with you?’ Jake says, apropos of nothing. ‘What’s the deal? Are you boning now?’

Amy and Charles glance at each other. Jake is _perceptive_. But at this point it’s hard to remember how she and Charles used to act around each other, hard to know if they’ve been touching more or looking at each other in a way that shows everything.

‘Not boning,’ Amy said. ‘Just… I don’t know. Dating?’

‘Dating,’ Charles says.

‘Is that okay?’ Amy says. ‘Obviously we would have asked you before we did anything, if you’d been here. I don’t want you to feel weird about it.’

‘We’re not leaving you out,’ Charles adds. ‘You never have to worry about that, Jakey.’

Jake looks back and forth between them thoughtfully. ‘Is there kissing?’

‘Yes,’ Amy says. ‘Just kissing.’

Jake grins, like he’s got a lot of ideas in his head. ‘Can I see?’

Amy leans in and kisses Charles, slowly but deeply. When they break apart, Jake is looking at them like he just discovered something amazing. Amy catches Charles’ eye and then they’re kissing again, harder this time, one of his hands in her hair.

‘Oh my god,’ Jake says.

Amy keeps kissing Charles, sucks on his lower lip, runs a hand up his chest. She likes that Jake’s watching them, that he’s enjoying this too. When they break apart again, Jake is still staring.

‘I know I say this a lot,’ he says. ‘But this is kinda turning me on. For realz.’

‘Shouldn’t we talk about this properly?’ Amy says. ‘Communication is –’

‘The key to successful relationships,’ Jake finishes. ‘I know. We can talk about everything. But just - is it just this? I mean, is it just kissing or have you –?’

‘It’s mostly just frenching,’ Charles says.

‘Maybe a little more,’ Amy says.

‘I don’t know what that means,’ Jake says. ‘But I wanna see it. Would you be up for…’ His gaze flicks back and forth between them. ‘Like, a threesome?’

‘I would,’ Amy says.

‘Of course,’ Charles says. ‘You think I’d turn down a slice of the Peraltiago action?’

Jake and Amy groan in unison, and then Jake says, ‘God, I’ve missed you,’ and pulls Charles into a kiss. And Amy has seen them kiss before, of course, but this is something different. Their new weird kind of normal.

‘So…’ Jake says. He isn’t nervous. His leg (the uninjured one) is bouncing for totally unrelated reasons.

‘ _So_ ,’ Charles says. They’re sitting on Amy’s bed this time, with the perfect amount of mood lighting and everything they could possibly need stashed in her nightstand drawer.

They could have done this sooner. Jake wanted to do it sooner. But he had to wait for his stupid bullet wound to heal.

‘I could totally have sex!’ he said, that first week he was back. ‘I’ll just not move my leg!’

‘No,’ Charles said, decisively. ‘Our first time all together is going to be _special_.’

‘And you’re gonna need to move your legs,’ Amy added.

It was good, though. He got to have time alone with each of them first, and of course it was hot but it was more than that. Emotional. Important.

‘I did some research,’ Amy says.

‘Was it porn?’ Jake says. ‘Porn research? Because women watch that, as I recently learnt.’

‘Some of it was,’ Amy admits.

‘What did you learn?’

‘Um,’ Amy said. ‘Not a lot, honestly.’

‘Porn is useful as an erotic tool,’ Charles says. ‘But it doesn’t represent _actual_ lovemaking.’

‘Well, exactly,’ Amy says. ‘Which is why I also read some articles.’

Jake loves them so, so much. ‘Cool,’ he says. ‘So how do we… you know. Start the threesome timez.’

‘I think we’re overthinking this,’ Amy says. ‘It’s just sex. We just need to start off in the normal way.’

‘Washing each other’s hair?’

‘Not what I meant,’ Amy says, and kisses Charles. Then she pulls away and kisses Jake, before turning back to Charles again.

‘I really like it when you guys kiss,’ Jake says.

‘I really like it when _you_ guys kiss,’ Amy says.

‘Do I even need to say anything?’ Charles says, dreamily.

Jake laughs. ‘Nope.’ And kisses him. He reaches out, runs a hand over Amy’s jaw and into her hair, pulls her closer so he can break away and kiss her. And they go on like that for a while, and then Charles’ mouth is on Jake’s neck and Amy’s hands are on the buckle of his belt.

‘Oh my god,’ Jake says.

‘Is that a good oh my god?’ Charles says against Jake’s jaw.

‘Yes. Yes.’

Clothes come off. Hands trail down backs and up thighs. Charles kisses Amy and Jake remembers that this is the first time they’ve had sex, and he gets to watch it happen, and holy shit he’s so lucky. He keeps thinking that the whole time, while he’s kissing her neck and Charles is kissing her chest, and then while Amy is pushing him onto his back and kissing her way down his stomach and Charles is kissing him and touching his hair.

For some reason he always thought that a threesome would be porn-ier, more visceral. But it’s tender and playful and sweet, and it’s just him and Charles and Amy and it feels _normal_ somehow. Amy’s mouth on him, Charles talking in his ear about how good he looks right now. He comes with one of his hands in Amy’s hair, the other holding Charles close to him.

Then they switch things up, which is also awesome. Jake thinks yet again how lucky he is, how happy he is to be part of this, how everything feels like it has finally slotted together properly. And then they cuddle, which is its own kind of new and its own kind of amazing.

‘Remember when Captain Dozerman saw you kissing and he literally died?’ Charles says. ‘That’s how I feel right now.’

‘Such a weird time to bring up our dead boss,’ Jake says. ‘But also, same. That’s how I’d want to go, though. If it couldn’t be a cool action movie thing.’

Charles shows up at Jake’s desk a few night shifts later, practically vibrating with excitement.

‘You look like you’re about to tell me something I don’t want to know,’ Jake says.

‘Can we talk outside?’ Charles says, beaming.

‘Fine.’ Jake gets up, follows him out to the balcony.

‘Me and Amy had sex!’ Charles blurts as soon as they get out there.

‘Noice!’ Jake says. ‘Can we high five for that or is that sexist? Or is it okay because we’re being sex positive?’

‘I think it’s okay if you also high five Amy,’ Charles says.

‘Sure, makes sense.’ Jake holds his hand up and Charles high fives him triumphantly. ‘So was it awesome?’

‘Of course it was,’ Charles says. ‘Amy is such a beautiful, sensuous woman, and-’

‘Okay, maybe I’ll just let her tell me about it,’ Jake says.

‘That’s fair.’

They go back inside, and Jake finds Amy in the kitchen and says, ‘We have to high five.’

She bemusedly returns his high five. ‘Charles told you already?’

‘Yep,’ Jake says. ‘Did he buy you dinner first?’

‘This is Charles we’re talking about. He _made_ me dinner first.’

‘Okay, well I’m gonna need all the details. Of the sex, not the dinner. If you want to.’

She smiles. ‘I do want to.’

They switch back to the day shift, which makes life a thousand times better. Jake still sees Amy and Charles individually, but now they’re seeing each other as well. They hang out increasingly as a three. (‘A throuple,’ Amy says.) They watch movies, go for drinks, cook dinner. They make bets like whoever finishes their paperwork first (‘ _Correctly_ ,’ Amy adds) gets to choose where they eat dinner.

‘That’s not _fair_ , I’m _dyslexic_ ,’ Jake whines when he loses.

‘You also had the least paperwork,’ Amy reminds him, but it pays off because Charles chooses Sal’s Pizza. ‘Stop letting him guilt trip you,’ Amy says.

‘Maybe I just want pizza tonight,’ Charles says, and winks at Jake.

Jake gets peperoni and Hawaiian. ‘I wanted both, so I had both,’ he says.

‘Title of your sex tape!’ Charles says, looking absurdly pleased with himself for making a joke.

‘Title of _our_ sex tape,’ Amy corrects.

They all go to trivia night when Kylie has to miss one. Jake is on _Die Hard_ , sports and designer sneakers; Charles is on non- _Die Hard_ movies, musical theatre and food; Amy is on everything else. Jake completely flunks a question about baseball, but it’s a good night anyway.

Their threesomes get a _little_ porn-ier. One night Charles and Amy tie Jake to the headboard and do the whole good-cop-bad-cop thing, which, yeah, wow, that does it for him. It’s fun, figuring out all the configurations of their dynamic and all the things they can do for each other.

After a while, they tell the squad about their relationship. They’re bemused but don’t seem hugely surprised, and they’re supportive. Jake thinks for the thousandth time that he has a super awesome family.

‘So Charles has been into everyone except Terry,’ Rosa observes.

‘Terry doesn’t know whether to be annoyed or relieved,’ Terry says.

They fill out the paperwork for HR, and immediately get called in for a meeting to be interrogated about why they have filed relationships with multiple people. At Shaw’s that evening, Holt comes up to them.

‘Detectives,’ he says. ‘I hope your meeting with the HR department was efficient and… non-judgemental.’

‘We confused the heck out of a straight dude,’ Jake says. ‘That’s always fun.’

‘Indeed,’ Holt says. And then, ‘I must admit, I too was initially confused by the nature of your relationship. However, after conducting the relevant research I realised that I had been ignorant of an important part of the LGBT-plus community.’

‘ _Sir_ ,’ Charles says. ‘Are you saying we taught you something new?’

‘Oh my god,’ Amy whispers.

‘Of course,’ Holt says. ‘I frequently learn from the squad. Usually I learn new ways in which people can cause chaos, but occasionally it is something positive.’

Jake grins. ‘And the ment _or_ becomes the ment _ee_.’

‘I wouldn’t go that far,’ Holt says. ‘But I applaud the three of you for your bravery in taking this relationship public.’

‘Are you giving us your blessing?’ Amy says.

Holt raises his eyebrows. ‘I believe I am.’

The second he’s out of earshot, Amy says, ‘That was the best thing that’s ever happened.’

Jake lets Amy win the bet, and moves into her apartment.

‘You should move in as well,’ she says to Charles, not long later. ‘You’re barely at home anyway.’

He looks at her, taken aback. ‘I didn’t-’ he says. ‘Really? I didn’t think you’d want me to.’

‘I do,’ she says. ‘And Jake definitely does.’

He grins at her, his face scrunching up. ‘Oh, Ames!’

It’s good, all three of them living together. Charles makes them dinner, and Amy helps and tries to learn, and Jake chooses the terrible rap music they listen to. It works.

Amy’s parents arrive for a surprise visit. Charles grabs Jake’s arm and says, ‘Should I sneak out?’

‘ _How_?’ Jake says. ‘Ooh, you could tie a fire extinguisher hose round you and –’

Amy interrupts him. ‘No one is sneaking out. We’re just going to tell them.’

‘Are you sure?’ Charles says.

Amy tries to plaster on a confident face. ‘Yes.’

When she introduces him to her perplexed parents, Charles says, ‘Hi I’m Charles from the Nine-Nine nice to meet you this is definitely nothing weird,’ all in one breath.

‘Does anyone want some alcohol?’ Jake says. It’s eleven in the morning.

It’s a bit of a disaster - Amy didn’t even have a chance to prepare a powerpoint on polyamory for her parents, but they stumble through their explanation well enough.

Her mother looks terse. ‘I don’t understand this at all,’ she says. ‘Why would you…’

‘Maybe we should call it a day,’ Victor says.

After they leave, Amy curls up on the couch. She doesn’t know how to feel. She thinks about messaging Rosa.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Charles says. He looks devastated. ‘I should have snuck out. Or pretended to be a lodger or something.’

Amy just shakes her head. Charles is too important to lie to her parents about, but also she’s never going to get her mother’s expression out of her head.

‘Can we do something?’ Jake says, desperately.

Amy shakes her head. They slide onto the couch on either side of her.

‘It’s gonna be okay,’ Charles says, taking her hand. ‘I’m sure they just need time to get used to it.’

‘We should do something,’ Jake says again. ‘I don’t know, we just have to make them see that this is _good_. That this is how things _are_.’

‘We should invite them out for dinner or something,’ Charles says.

In the end, Amy goes by herself. She and her parents sit in tense silence for a minute, and then she says, ‘Look, I know you don’t approve and I don’t need you to. I just need you to respect my choices.’

Her parents glance at each other, and her father says, ‘Do they make you happy, mija? Both of them?’

‘Yes,’ Amy says. ‘So happy. I can’t… I can’t imagine my life without them.’

Amy’s mother still looks uncomfortable, but she says, ‘That’s what’s important.’ She spends the rest of the meal talking about David, and for once Amy is relieved. It’s not perfect, but they’re a step up from where they were. And she gets to come home to her boyfriends, and climb into the middle of the bed where she never gets cold.

Jake’s parents, when they tell them, are confused but don’t seem to mind too much. Charles’ parents, of course, are almost disturbingly supportive.

It’s all going so well. Until Jake gets involved with Lieutenant Hawkins, and everything falls apart.

Amy spends the entire trial squeezing Charles’ hand, probably too hard. They watch Jake being led away in handcuffs, and Amy shakes her head and Charles puts an arm around her as she silently starts crying. They go home to an apartment that’s too quiet and a bed that feels too big for just the two of them.

Work is chaos, is rushed paperwork and hours of overtime and constant talk of Jake and Rosa’s case. There is a gaping, Jake and Rosa-shaped hole in everyone’s lives.

Amy braids her hair and watches Harry Potter movies and works her way through a book of crosswords. She wakes up in the middle of the night to an empty bed and finds Charles in the kitchen, baking macaroons in his pyjamas.

‘Did I wake you up?’ he says.

‘What are you _doing_?’

‘I couldn’t sleep,’ he says. ‘I needed to do something with my hands.’

‘Title of your sex tape,’ Amy says, because Jake isn’t there to say it. Neither of them laughs.

‘I’m so scared, Amy,’ Charles says.

‘Me too. Me too.’

They’re cops: they’ve seen prisons, seen the awful things that happen inside of them. She remembers the job they worked in that Texas prison before Jake went to witness protection, remembers how Jake ended up leaving early because he couldn’t deal with watching Amy surrounded by murderers and abusers and nazis, and she knows how he felt, feels it in ever corner of her being.

Amy pulls Charles into a hug. ‘Come back to bed,’ she says. ‘Please.’

‘The macaroons-’

‘Finish them tomorrow.’

Jake calls them, and they sit close on the couch with the phone on speaker.

‘You guys better not be having too much fun without me,’ he jokes.

‘We definitely aren’t,’ Charles says, seriously.

‘What about cases? Have you solved any cool ones?’

And Charles starts talking about a drugs case he’s been working, and Jake makes dumb comments and the occasional really smart comment, and it hurts so much.

‘Jake,’ Amy says. ‘Babe. I miss you so, so much.’

‘Me too,’ Jake says. ‘I miss you both. I freaking love you.’

‘I love you too,’ Charles says.

‘Me too,’ Amy says. ‘I love, love, love you.’

Jake can never talk for long. And he’s so far away, too far to visit more than once every couple of weeks. After they hang up everything feels empty, too quiet.

Charles sighs. Takes Amy’s hand. He gets it: he’s the only one who gets it. There are no words, so they comfort each other with kisses and clasped hands, and then with hands on thighs and chests and in hair, and then with hands on buttons and zippers.

They go to bed and for a while she almost manages to stop thinking about Jake. She digs her fingers into Charles’ back, holds him close as he fucks her, tries to be in the moment. But it all comes back as they cuddle afterwards: she misses Jake acutely.

Somehow it’s even worse than when Jake was in Florida. At least he was supposed to be safe there. And they had so much, and now it’s been taken away again. One night Amy and Charles try to play their old ‘what would we do if Jake was here’ game, but it’s not the same.

Work. Cases. The squad in the break room, talking about Jake and Rosa. It goes on and on, stretching out. How has it only been a month?

At least she has Charles. She even listens to his terrible podcast every week and, god, she really must love him. They go out for dinner one night, not for fun but because they’re both too tired to cook and too hungry to wait for delivery.

‘Jake would be better at this,’ Charles says, bleakly. ‘If one of us was in prison. He’d find a way.’ He pushes noodles into his mouth like he’s barely tasting them, barely thinking about what he’s eating.

‘We’ll find a way,’ Amy says, but it’s meaningless.

She starts thinking about how anyone looking at them would see a man and a woman on a date and wouldn’t see how something is missing, even though it should be _obvious_. She thinks about how this is how life is for most people all the time, about how they finally look like something _normal_ and she can’t stand it. She doesn’t want a monogamous heterosexual relationship, she wants _Jake_ back, she wants their cheerful chaos, she wants the three of them together, ridiculous but somehow making it work.

That’s when she realises she’s crying, right there in the restaurant. Charles reaches for her hands across the table. ‘I know,’ he says.

‘The court is hearing the case of Rosalita Diaz and Jacob Peralta,’ the judge says.

They’re back in court again, after everything. Presenting their new evidence. This time Charles is the one crushing Amy’s hand, but it’s okay, it keeps her grounded. This has to be enough, it _has_ to be. The trial goes on and on – did the first one last this long? Amy feels jumpy, can’t quite pay attention. Is this how Jake feels all the time?

But then, eventually, the head juror stands up.

‘The jury finds the accused not guilty,’ she says.

The squad cheer. Amy flings her arms around Charles, laughing and crying all at once.

‘Oh my god,’ he says. ‘Oh my god.’

‘We did it,’ she says.

They drive down together to pick him up.

‘I’m going to make him so much food,’ Charles says. ‘Whatever he wants.’

When they finally arrive they’re kept waiting, Charles talking nonstop as Amy anxiously braids and unbraids her hair. She doesn’t even know what she’s worried about, but she needs Jake, needs to see him _right now_. Needs to reassure herself that he’s okay, that he’s really getting out.

And then the door opens and Jake steps through it, wearing baggy jean and a plain sweatshirt. Tired-looking, skinnier than normal, sporting his patchy beard, but perfect anyway. His face lights up when he sees them.

‘Jake,’ Amy says, and hugs him tight. Charles barrels into them a second later, already crying.

Jake pulls them both to him, holds them close. ‘My two favourite people,’ he says.

When they break apart there’s a guard eyeing them suspiciously. Amy grabs Jake’s hand and leads him outside, where they climb into the backseat of her car with Jake in the middle.

‘I love you so much,’ Charles says, pulling Jake into a kiss.

‘I love you,’ Jake says. ‘Both of you.’

Amy kisses him as well. Here, in the prison parking lot, she feels everything beginning to come back together. ‘Come on,’ she says, wiping tears from her cheeks. ‘Let’s go home.’


End file.
